FEATURED DUSSELDORF AIRPORT HOTEL

The Holiday Inn Dusseldorf Airport-Ratingen - Your hotel for an excellent overnight stay! Located at the city boundary of Dusseldorf with excellent traffic connections to Dusseldorf Airport. Our complimentary Airport-Shuttle takes you from the airport to the hotel in just a few minutes...more

ABOUT DUSSELDORF

Düsseldorf, Germany, is the capital of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and is Germany's seventh-largest city, with a population of 1.5 million. Düsseldorf is a cosmopolitan city located on the banks of the Rhine and hosts a large population of Turks, Greeks, Italians and Japanese. The Japanese community of Düsseldorf is the largest such community in all of Germany and the third largest in Europe.

Düsseldorf is a major player in several global industries. Five Fortune Global 500 companies are headquartered within Düsseldorf, including Henkel, the makers of Dial-brand soap and Loctite-brand adhesives. Many fashion, marketing and telecommunications companies have their headquarters in Düsseldorf, making the city one of Germany's major players in each of these industries. Düsseldorf is also the host for many global trade shows, including 23 major trade shows.

Small settlements have been present at the site of modern-day Düsseldorf since at least the 7th century A.D., but the first written reference to the city dates to 1135. In 1186, the state of Berg began to rule over Düsseldorf. On 14 August 1288, Count Adolf V of Berg granted Düsseldorf official city rights in recognition of the growing town's contribution to the victory of Berg in the Battle of Worringen. The children of Düsseldorf erupted into cartwheels upon hearing the news of victory, inspiring an annual cartwheeling competition that has continued every year since 1937.

Düsseldorf continued to grow after being granted city rights, gaining a market square and city walls. In 1380, the Duchy of Berg made Düsseldorf its capital. The city prospered for many years until the Berg line died out in 1609. The Counts of Palatinate-Neuburg took control of the city and oversaw a period of prosperity under Johann Willhelm II. Johann was famous for his art collection, which he created to please his wife, the last of the Italian Medici family. However, after Johann died childless in 1716 the city began to decline.

The city was largely unimportant throughout the 18th century and was ravaged by the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century. The Industrial Revolution, however, breathed new life into Düsseldorf; by 1882 the city boasted a population of 100,000, and by 1892 the population had doubled. Düsseldorf became a major center of manufacturing and oil production.

Air raids during World War II, however, reduced much of Düsseldorf to rubble. The Allies targeted the industrial city as part of their strategic bombing campaign; in one raid, over 700 bombers from the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force attacked the city. These concentrated raids completely crippled the city's infrastructure and destroyed the oil refineries in the city, putting a halt to all oil production in Düsseldorf.

After the war, Düsseldorf was made the capital of the new German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Under the Marshall Plan, Düsseldorf's reconstruction progressed at a rapid pace. The industrial city transformed itself from an industrial economy to a modern economy based on trade, culture and service industries. Today, Düsseldorf is a world-class city, recognized by Mercer's as the fifth highest on its annual Quality of Life rankings.